


Romancing Out of School

by misura



Category: American Idol RPF
Genre: M/M, Wooing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-08-23
Updated: 2010-08-23
Packaged: 2017-11-01 23:44:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/362607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>"Is that your idea of romance, Kris? A big ball of yarn?"</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Romancing Out of School

**Author's Note:**

> written during the Summer Heat Wave Challenge, prompt: _school_

All things considered, Katy took it better than Kris had expected her to. 

What he'd expected her to do had been to hang up on him - if not the moment she heard it was him, then at least the moment he told her what he'd called for. Instead, what she said was: "Yes," and then: "Okay, I can see that, I guess," and then: "Kris, honey, will you _shut up and stop babbling_. Thank you."

So that went pretty well, really.

 

Kris had done his best to keep in touch with Adam, truly he had. Not by phone - because what with the way he was never quite sure in which part of the world Adam was on any given day, he figured chances were he'd call Adam in the middle of the night or something, and that would be inconsiderate - and not by e-mail, exactly, because e-mails were kind of - well, what Kris wanted to do was _talk_ , and you couldn't really have a conversation by e-mail.

He sent Adam postcards, though. Postcards from Arkansas, and LA, and postcards with dolphins or kittens or puppies (because okay, Adam might be a sort of rockstar now, but Kris knew that didn't mean he didn't still like cute things, and what kind of postcards _did_ people send to a rockstar, anyway?).

"Postcards," Katy repeated, sounding incredulous.

"I write things on them?" Kris offered. "Look, I know I never sent any postcards to you during Idol, but, well, we talked over the phone a lot, so - "

"Five minutes a day is not 'a lot', Kris," Katy said. "What'd you write on the last one?"

" 'I've seen the world's biggest ball of yarn and it's really big'." It had been. Kris'd had his picture taken standing right next to it.

Katy made a sound that Kris wasn't sure how to interpret. "You're not kidding me."

"No?"

"Why did I ever agree to marry you?" Katy asked. "Is that your idea of romance, Kris? A big ball of yarn?"

Kris thought that was going a bit far. "Hey!" he said. "I can be romantic!"

"In your _songs_ , yes," Katy said. "Almost all of which you write yourself, so what on earth is _wrong_ with you? Is it because it's Adam? Are you _stupid_ whenever he's involved or something? Wait, don't answer that. I already know."

"Do you think I should have written something else?"

"Try using small, simple words. Like 'how are you?'. 'I miss you'. 'I hope you are well'. 'I want to see you'. 'I would call you, but I'm too much of a chicken'."

"I'm not a chicken," Kris said, stung.

Katy clucked at him and hung up.

"And I'm not stupid whenever Adam's involved, either," Kris told the dialtone.

 

When his phone started ringing at three in the morning, Kris's first thought that it was his mother. His second thought was that it was Katy - although that was slightly less likely.

Adam _might_ have been his fifth or sixth guess, but probably not.

"For a whole year, I get one-liners about the weather and football and museums and puppies and balls of yarn and now all of a sudden it's 'I miss you'? What the hell?"

"Um," Kris said. "It was Katy's idea?" He felt like a coward the moment the words were out of his mouth. "I mean, I missed you before, obviously, but ... "

"Obviously," Adam repeated. "And you missing me is obvious - why? Because when you send me a postcard from sunny Florida with smileys drawn all over it, the first thing I think is _not_ : 'gosh, Kris must sure be missing me a lot'."

"Look," Kris said, "it's three in the morning where I am, so could we maybe not do this now?"

"Fine," Adam snapped. "I'll send you a postcard or something."

"I like postcards." Probably, Kris reflected, it was not a good sign when your phone-conversations tended to end with you talking to people who'd hung up on you a few seconds ago.

 

"I'm impressed," Katy said.

"So, I know I probably should have handled that a little better, but it was _three in the morning_ and I just - wait, what?" Kris mentally replayed the last few seconds of their conversation. " _Why_?"

"Do you remember what I said the first time you asked me out?"

Kris wasn't sure what _that_ had to do with blowing off Adam just because he'd been a little too sleepy to jump up and down and do a little victory dance. "You said 'yes'?" Kris also vaguely remembered something else, now that she mentioned it. "And um something about how you'd been beginning to think I'd never ask?"

"That was the _second_ time," Katy said. "Or maybe the third."

"I don't remember that." Kris wasn't sure if he'd really have been able to ask Katy out again after she'd have turned him down two times already. It wasn't so much that he was afraid of being rejected but, well, no was no was no, wasn't it? No sense in making someone feel uncomfortable by pushing it.

"That explains a lot. Look," Katy said, "you don't want to come across as too eager. The postcard obviously worked, so that's great. Now you know he's interested, and _he_ knows _you_ 're interested, but he also knows you're not _easy_."

Kris considered that for a moment. "Actually, I think I'm pretty easy. When it's Adam, I mean."

"Think of this as your being back in high-school and having a crush on the prettiest girl who's around. You're going to have to fight for her, Kris - _and_ you're going to have to be smart enough to get her interested in you in the first place."

"I'm not sure if that analogy really works for me," Kris said.

"Everybody wants to date her - and if you get her alone for even five minutes, there's going to be a lot of people who envy you."

"Actually," said Kris, "I think there'd be more people who'd want um pictures?"

Katy remained silent for a few moments. "Well, yes. I guess you're right."

"Oh."

"So I guess I can't really help you after all, can I?" Katy said. "After all, what would _I_ know about dating a celebrity, or getting closer to one? Why did you even get me involved in this in the first place?"

"The postcards really worked." Kris told the phone.

 

"So Katy told me she's been putting you through charm school or something like that." Adam sounded amused and relaxed and not at all like someone who still owed Kris a postcard.

"You've been talking to Katy?" Kris wasn't sure how he felt about that.

"Of course I've been talking to Katy," Adam said.

"Of course," Kris echoed, remembering another phone conversation. "Why 'of course'? Because when you don't call me for almost a year, the first thing I think is _not_ : 'oh, well, I'm sure Adam must be calling my ex-wife a lot'."

"Five minutes a day is not 'a lot'."

Kris groaned. "You _have_ been talking to Katy."

"She's been telling me all of your secrets and weaknesses," Adam said cheerfully.

"Yeah, that sounds like Katy." Kris didn't believe it for a moment.

"Some of them, anyway," Adam amended. "The ones I can use against you. So you might as well consider this your one and only warning."

Kris chuckled. "What could you possibly want from me?"

"Your body, mind, soul et cetera?"

Kris said nothing. Adam was only joking, naturally; it was only a quote from one of his songs; it didn't _mean_ anything other than that they were still friends.

After perhaps ten seconds, Adam cleared his throat. "Kris?"

"Yeah?"

"If, say, you'd want to seduce an incredibly hot rockstar who is hardly ever going to be in the same city as you are and who's probably going to call you just about every night at three in the morning or at some other impossible time - if that's really something you want to do, I could probably give you some tips. Better ones than Katy could, anyway - even if the postcards were a good idea."

"Um," Kris said. "I'd like that."

"I guess we could also just skip the part where you seduce me, but, well, I thought it might be fun."

"For you more than for me, most likely," Kris said dryly.

"I'd make it up to you later."

"You'd better."


End file.
